Afghans protest rumored desecration of Koran by NATO troops

Some 400 people protested Tuesday in the central Afghan province of Wardak the alleged desecration of a Koran by members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, authorities told Efe.

The demonstrators blocked the highway linking the cities of Kabul and Kandahar for two hours demanding that the people who had reportedly damaged or desecrated Islam's holy book be brought to justice, the police spokesman in Wardak, Wali Norzai, said.

The protest came after the rumor spread that ISAF troops had profaned a Koran the previous night in the area of Shash Gaw in the district of Saidabad.

The ISAF said that it has no proof of any protest.

"We have no information about protests so far, but we're investigating," the spokesperson for the Atlantic Alliance, Latondra Kinldy, told Efe.

Meanwhile, the Taliban condemned the alleged desecration of the Koran.

In February 2012, the supposed burning of copies of the Koran in the then-U.S.-run Bagram prison, near Kabul, sparked a wave of violence around Afghanistan that killed about 30 people.

The process of withdrawing international troops from Afghanistan is under way and is scheduled to conclude in late 2014. EFE